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January 16, 2013

Our last posting introduced the Stone Soup Quilting Ministry of the North Seattle Friends Church in Washington. This Quaker ministry makes and provides over 100 quilts a year to patients of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and their families. The ministry's purpose is to demonstrate care and provide comfort to those suffering from cancer and other serious diseases.

Patty Federighi is Director of Quilting Ministries for the North Seattle Friends. Yes, Ministries. Plural. While corresponding with Patty about their Stone Soup activities, she mentioned another quilting ministry conducted by the North Seattle Friends - this one in Africa.

Expanding on the peace and healing that both quilt makers and recipients had experienced through the work of the Stone Soup Quilting Ministry, Patty began a program called Peace Through Pieces that is being conducted with Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS) in Burundi. The purpose of this quilting ministry is to "work with their women's support groups to add one more tool of trauma healing to their tool kit."

Central Africa has been plagued by inter-ethnic group conflict for decades, producing traumatic events in the lives of approximately one out of five people in the area. THARS was established to help heal the trauma experienced by individuals and to facilitate reconciliation of the ethnic groups so they may work together for a better future. Patty says: "We started working with THARS about six years ago after an initial visit to Burundi to see if the women were interested in learning quilt making and to find out if the materials and supplies needed for quilt making were available in this extremely poor country. Both questions were answered with a resounding 'Yes!'"

Students display their quilts at the first Peace Through Pieces training

in Burundi, December 2006. Photograph courtesy of Patty Federighi and the

North Seattle Friends Quilting Ministries.

The THARS organization selected two people each from seven support groups and two women from Burundi Yearly Meeting to gather with teachers from the North Seattle Friends. These teachers were Carolann Palmer, a well-known quilt maker, teacher, and quilt book author, and Patty. Carolann and Patty each took one group of eight students and provided a week-long workshop teaching simple quilt making from start to finish.

Julienne and Gasiride sew binding by hand at a workshop in Burundi.

Photograph courtesy of Patty Federighi and the North Seattle

Friends Quilting Ministries.

The students initially trained by Carolann and Patty took their newly learned skills back to their respective support groups and taught their friends what they had learned. According to Patty, "These groups, made up of mostly poor, mostly victims of the conflicts, many rape victims, mostly uneducated women, experienced creativity and success and were soon the envy of the villages they live in."

Patty has returned to Burundi four times since the first workshop six years ago and has directed two additional week-long workshops (one in Burundi and one in Congo), and one ten-day workshop in Burundi. Through these workshops, the students have expanded on the skills learned in simple quilt making. They are now equipped to make smaller crafts that can be sold in the region to help make the program self-sufficient. These items include tote bags, aprons, pot holders, school uniforms, girls' dresses, women's handbags, school back packs, table linens, and more. The women have also selected other work projects they can do together to improve their lives. These include gardening, goat-raising, basket weaving, and soap making.

Support group members work together on a quilt at the THARS training

center near Gitega, Burundi, Octobert 2009. Photograph courtesty of

Patty Federighi and the North Seattle Friends Quilting Ministries.

Quilters learn machine-piecing at a training at the Friends Peace Center

near Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 2009. Photograph

by Osborn Bulimu, THARS Intern. Courtesy of Patty Federighi.

Veraste and Claudette work together at the second quilting training near

Gitega, Burundi. Photograph courtesy of Patty Federighi and the North Seattle

Friends Quilting Ministries.

Quilt show in Burundi, June 2008. Photograph courtesy of Patty Federighi

January 1, 2013

Since the founding of the Religious Society of Friends, Quaker women have engaged in altruistic and philanthropic activities to better the lives of others. One of our recent postings described the work of Philadelphian Ann Parrish who, with like-minded Quaker women, founded The House of Industry to employ poor women, as well as the Aimwell School for the Free Instruction of Females to provide girls in poverty with the opportunity for education. The concern for others that inspired these late 18th and early 19th century endeavors still motivates women in the Quaker community to help and comfort people in crisis or in unfortunate circumstances.

The Stone Soup Quilting Ministry is a modern-day example of an effort to provide care and comfort to those in need. Associated with The Quaker Quilting Center of North Seattle Friends Church in Seattle, Washington, the ministry is a large, well-organized volunteer effort that produces approximately 100 quilts per year for long term cancer patients of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and for members of their families. This Alliance, comprised of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington Medical Center, and Seattle's Children's Hospital and Medical Center, conducts leading-edge research dedicated to eliminating cancer and related diseases, improving treatment and prevention, and caring for short- and long-term cancer patients. Long-term cancer patients cared for by these facilities are usually far from home while experiencing medical crises that affect their entire families.

Entramce to the North Seattle Friends Church in Seattle, Washington. Photograph

courtesy of the North Seattle Friends Church.

Just some of the quilts made by The Stone Soup Quilting Ministry members and

volunteers since 2004. All photographs courtesy of The Stone Soup Quilting Ministry.

The organization of the huge volunteer effort that produces so many quilts is based on a fable about "stone soup". The fable has passed down through time attributed to having occurred in various locales including Russia, Civil-War-Era America, and even Northern Kenya. The story, as told on the North Seattle Friends web site, is about Russian soldiers begging food from the impoverished peasantry in a war-ravaged countryside and being refused at every turn. Undaunted, the soldiers began to ask one after another household to contribute just a small amount of whatever they had toward the making of a mysterious soup of stones that would nourish the whole village. The word passed, everyone shared something, and by the end of the day the stone soup had turned into a meal for all to enjoy. According to the web site, "The soldiers' needs were generously met; no one had given more than he could afford to give; a spirit of community had been revivied; and people had acted on their natural sense of compassion."

The Stone Soup Quilting Ministry manages to produce large numbers of quilts by dividing the work into many small segments and asking each of the volunteer quilters for only a small commitment toward the completion of each quilt. As stated on the Ministry web site: "The Christian directive to 'comfort the afflicted' is shared by people of all spiritual traditions. We know that our quilts, given freely to cancer patients of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance are indeed a source of both physical and spiritual comfort. The surprise has been in the blessed and enriched lives of the quilt makers!"

If you would like to donate 100% cotton fabric or contribute time to the quilt making of The Stone Soup Quilting Ministry, contact Patty Federighi at (206) 522-6513 in Seattle or send an email to Patty at pattyf@northseattlefriends.org. Learn more about the North Seattle Friends and The Stone Soup Quilting Ministry by visiting http://www.northseattlefriends.org.

Ann Hanna Hambleton

Ann was the mother-in-law of Philena Cooper Hambleton, the subject of Philena's Friendship Quilt: A Quaker Farewell to Ohio, and the great-aunt of Senator Marcus Hanna of Ohio.

American Quilt Study Group

Do you know about the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG)? If not, you should. The purpose of this non-profit organization is to establish, sustain, and promote the highest standards for quilt related studies, to encourage these studies, and to provide opportunities to disseminate the work of both academic and non-academic researchers. Membership in the AQSG entitles one to receive Uncoverings, an annual journal of the research papers presented at AQSG's yearly Seminar, and a quarterly publication titled Blanket Statements containing research papers, notes and queries, as well as AQSG and quilt world news. In addition, an annual directory is provided that lists the names, contact information, and interests of current AQSG members--a valuable networking resource that gives access to approximately 950 fellow quilt enthusiasts. Click on the quilt block above to visit AQSG's web site and learn how to become a member. The site also provides information about the organization's annual Seminar, its publication opportunities, its Quilt Study program, and the Technical Guides and other publications available to members and the general public. AQSG is also on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Quilt-Study-Group/149056808116.

Quaker Quilts: Snapshots from an Exhibition

This pamphlet by Mary Holton Robare contains photographic and informational snapshots of quilts that were displayed in a three-day exhibit of Quaker Quilts held at Abram's Delight Museum in Winchester, Virginia, in 2014. The exhibit featured twenty-six quilts made between ca. 1840 and 2007. Click on the image to learn more about it.

Quilts and Quaker Heritage

Mary Holton Robare's book on selected quilts from an exhibition at the Virginia Quilt Museum in 2008. Click on the book to order and search by title.

Philena's Friendship Quilt: A Quaker Farewell to Ohio

In this 4th publication of the Ohio Quilt Series published by Ohio University Press, Lynda Salter Chenoweth presents the story of Philena Cooper Hambleton and the quilt made for her in Ohio in 1853 to take with her when she migrated to Iowa. To order, click on the book and then search by title.

Neighbors and Friends: Quakers in Community

Lynda Salter Chenoweth's second book based on her research into Philena's quilt tells the stories of those whose names appear on the quilt and places their lives in context. To order, click on the book and then search by title.

When This You See Remember Me

Also of interest by Mary Holton Robare. Schoolgirl Samplers of Winchester and Frederick County, Virginia. To order, click on the book, click "Store", then "Softcover Books" and search on title.

Followers

Copyright

(c) 2011-2017 Lynda Salter Chenoweth and Mary Holton Robare. Absolutely no reproduction or distribution permitted beyond one copy for personal study. For additional permissions regarding text please e-mail lchen@saber.net. All images are reproduced with permission of copyright holders. Any commercial or online use is strictly forbidden.

Lynda Salter Chenoweth

Mary Holton Robare

About Us

Lynda and Mary are quilt historians experienced in researching and publishing information about quilts made by members of the Religious Society of Friends. Their particular interest is in 19th century inscribed quilts that document Quaker families and their communities.
Lynda lives in Sonoma,California, and is a writer, a quilter, a researcher, and a member of the Board of the American Quilt Study Group. Mary lives in Winchester, Virginia, and is a writer, a researcher, and a choreographer and dance instructor.